Alphabet Street

Dance 4 the Light

"What?" Evie snapped, bringing her away from herself almost immediately. The name sounded so out of place to their current conversation.

"You heard me, Archeopteryx. It's a dinosaur." That one name left him with so much confidence.

"I know what they are, Prince." She struggled not to roll her eyes at his patronizing assumption. "Besides, they aren't dinosaurs."

"Late Jurassic period, I mean it's a bird type, right?"

"Yeah." She whispered warily, unsure of where he was leading her, but thankful the conversation was continuing. It seemed like he wasn't quite ready to leave, at least not yet.

"Come on, you said a person's favorite dinosaur can say a lot about them... then what does mine say?"

"Wait, that's your favorite dinosaur?" Of course, it would be.

"Well, I mean, I did a report on them in the 6th grade." Still, he remembered everything about that stupid dinosaur. He had always wondered why his brain kept the unnecessary information, and now, suddenly, he was thankful. "What does it say, Evie?" Pressing his thigh tighter against hers, he searched within the small space between them. Tension beginning to rise, he leaned closer, wanting to find a hint of anticipation flickering there. Her breath caught anxiously as she spun scenarios, and he wanted to know them all.

"Ummm." Taking a second to collect her thoughts, she weighed her words carefully. "You break the rules... and follow your own path. You're unique, and you're beautiful." She slipped, giving him exactly what he was looking for. "I mean resourceful... you're resourceful." His eyebrow arched at her first statement. It had been the third time she slipped this evening, again another breadcrumb lay before him, and he was willing to follow as long as she kept leaving them.

Cocking his head, he turned to her. "Are you flirting with me?" Drawing his bottom lip behind his teeth, he questioned, lingering on her eyes, her mouth, her breasts. Wanting to make it painfully obvious that he was flirting with her as well, hoping she would finally find confidence in the company.

"No, no." Evie tried and failed to brush off his accusation. Shaking her head, her eyes grew large as she studied his reaction, terrified her desire was bubbling a little too close to the surface. He was calm, unaffected, the tip of his fingers lightly ghosting her calves. "It's just dinosaurs, Prince." Excuses... excuses he wasn't buying.

"Right, are you flirting with me through dinosaurs?"

She lost herself within an internal conversation. Struggling to even find an appropriate excuse to cover for her. She had found comfort in their conversation, his sweetness luring her to a place she knew she didn't belong. All the soft touches, his reverberating words, that smile that could make you believe anything... it wasn't flirting, it was just kindness... and she was an idiot for thinking maybe otherwise. "No, of course not." Repeating those words to him and herself, she tried to convince them both.

"You sure?" The texture of his voice like honey as he poured, thick and sweet.

"Yes." Painfully that word left her throat, anxiety, embarrassment not allowing anything else to escape.

"Well, that's too bad." His tongue clicked in disappointment. "Cause I liked it." Assuredly he swiftly brushed his fingers over the knit of his knees before leaning back casually into the cushions. Waiting patiently for her to realize his words.

"Wait, you did?" There it was.

"Yeah, no one's ever tried that one before." Stretching his arms across the back of the couch he tried to stop himself from touching her, afraid she would find excuses to pull away, like always. To his surprise she leaned in, the rounded edge of her buttons hovering above his fingers. Taunting.